KC Replay: Chiefs’ preseason games end, Missouri high school football begins, and more

It was a hot summer night around Kansas City Friday as the Chiefs put the finishing touches on an unblemished preseason and high school football teams on the Missouri side of the state line met in season openers.

Football took center stage entering the weekend, to be sure, but the past week of sports in KC also delivered some competitive Royals baseball, soccer thrills and more.

Here’s a look at some highlights.

Chiefs look ready to rumble

The first-team offense and defense saw enough of the field to leave a lasting impression in the Chiefs’ preseason finale against the Minnesota Vikings Friday night at Arrowhead Stadium.

Patrick Mahomes threw for a pair of touchdowns, including one on which Tyreek Hill obliterated former teammate Bashaud Breeland, en route to a 28-25 Chiefs victory — their third straight in this year’s three-game slate of exhibition contests.

Now come some tough decisions. By Tuesday at 3 p.m. Central Time, the Chiefs (and all other NFL teams) must pare their rosters to 53 players. That will make for some difficult choices for GM Brett Veach and head coach Andy Reid.

One more note about Friday: It was Terez Paylor Day in Kansas City, so proclaimed by Mayor Quinton Lucas, and the afternoon included a press-box ceremony for the late Chiefs beat writer. Paylor’s fiancee, Ebony Reed, announced that the Terez A. Paylor Scholarship fund at his alma mater, Howard University, had surpassed $100,000 and has thus become a permanent endowment.

Turn on those Friday night lights

The sights and sounds of high school football, with fans in the stands, no less, returned across the metro Friday evening.

Schools on the Kansas side of the state line play their openers this coming Friday, so the week ahead will be filled with even more prep football storylines, as well as those in other sports at the area’s 100 or so high schools.

Royals come home Tuesday

The Royals had been winning with regularity of late before losing a pair to close out a series in Houston.

That series finale was a rough one, too, with a recent Astros call-up driving in the decisive run in extra innings on Wednesday. No lingering problem for the Royals, who moved on to play the Mariners in Seattle. They won the series opener Thursday night, then beat the M’s again Friday night (early Saturday morning in KC) by an 8-7 score in 12 innings.

As we mentioned in this space last week, plenty of intrigue remains around the Royals, who are evaluating players during this final month’s worth of games with an eye on coming out strong in 2022.

Their current road trip concludes Sunday in Seattle, followed by a day off Monday ahead of Tuesday’s series opener against the Cleveland Indians at Kauffman Stadium.

Soccer stays hot ... especially KC NWSL

Kansas City’s new National Women’s Soccer League team, KC NWSL, hadn’t gotten off to a very good start in its inaugural campaign here.

But the club’s fortunes changed this past week when the team won its first game and then immediately won another to take a two-game win streak into Saturday evening’s matchup against the Red Stars in Chicago.

With ties and points earned against Minnesota and Portland, Sporting KC had a fairly productive week, too, culminating with a Saturday night showdown against the Colorado Rapids at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan.

The middle of the week brought a special treat for Sporting fans. Winger Daniel Salloi played in the MLS All-Star Game and scored the decisive kick in penalties.

Paralympics open in Tokyo

Our region sent a handful of high-level competitors to Tokyo for the “2020” Paralympic Games, including 18-year-old Haven Shepherd of Carthage, Missouri.

KC Star sports columnist Vahe Gregorian wrote about Shepherd recently, and her story is nothing short of inspiring. You really have to read it to comprehend it, but she was orphaned in her native Vietnam through an unspeakable act committed by her biological father, adopted by a Missouri couple, and then became a world-class athlete.

A swimmer and track athlete, she competed Saturday and will do so again on Wednesday. The Paralympic Games continue in Japan through Sept. 5.